Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Care for Land, Land for Life

10 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - The 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has opened in Korea.

14 Pacific island countries are parties to this Convention that addresses land degradation and sustainable land management, a significant issue of concern for the region.(Visit www.bionesian.blogspot.com)

While productive land becomes scarcer, providing food for the 9 billion people predicted to live on Earth in 2050 will require a 70 per cent increase in global food production.

Over the course of the next two weeks, island nations in the Pacific are at the conference with the 180 parties to the convention to shape the way forward that will help stop land degradation in our region.

“The Earth, once a healthy planet is slowly losing its’ health and vitality,” said the Governor of the Gyeongnam Province, host to the UNCCD COP 10.

The past President of the UNCCD COP asked that parties at these negotiations multiply forces to achieve the objectives under the convention.

Opening UNCCD COP 10 Plenary

“Dont forget the beneficiaries for whom these efforts are being deployed,” asked Jose Cueva, Director of Soil Conservancy of Argentina, before he welcomed the election of Don koo Lee, the Minister of Korea Forest Service as President of COP 10 who asked that countries be bold, ambitious and creative in talking the unresolved methodological and institutional issues.

“At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, desertification, climate change and biodiversity loss were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development, now desertification, drought and land degradation remains with a low profile but these issues are equally important as others.”

The 10th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD Opened in Changwon Korea on 10 October and will end on 21 October, 2011.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has a delegation of three to provide technical and communications support to the 14 Pacific island countries and territories at this Conference.

L - Mr. Bruce Jefferies, Mr. Tepa Suaesi

"We have provided support to the Pacific countries in the months leading up to this international event, providing both a Policy brief for guidance for the Pacific as well as staging a Pacific regional preparatory meeting," said Bruce Jefferies the Terrestrial and Ecosystems Management Officer at SPREP.

"We look forward to seeing what the coming meeting will bring for the Pacific region as we combat land degradation, a vital concern given the livelihoods of our Pacific people depends on our biodiversity and what the land can yield."